Toward Coactivity

This paper introduces the concept of Coactivity as a new focal point for Human-Robot Interaction to address the more sophisticated roles of partner or teammate envisioned for future human-robot systems. We propose that most approaches to date have focused on autonomy and suggest that autonomy is the wrong focal point. The envisioned roles, if properly performed, have a high level of interdependence that cannot be addressed solely by autonomy and necessitate a focus on the coactivity.